WhatsApp Says Removing Child Porn Will Put Users At Hacking Risks

Dhir Acharya - Dec 10, 2018

The Supreme Court is making suggestions for Internet companies to remove child porn from their platforms, but some seem impossible.

Recently, the world tech firms like Facebook, Google, and WhatsApp have been replying to the Supreme Court about their responsibilities to put an end to child porn on their networks. However, the eliminations may not be as easy as it sounds.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a statement, saying that Internet companies have agreed to remove video contents that relate to raping, child porn, and other offensive matters from their platforms. But it is a bit complicated to do that.

The central government suggested, in a written document, that the tech giants should have officers for liaison with human content monitors on the networks, law enforcement, as well as help with responding to requisition orders. The firms related to this matter haven’t raised a problem for any of this, but another recommendation is appearing to be problematic.

An additional suggestion from the central government is using AI technology to automatically delete the inappropriate contents. That kind of solution is surely something social media can do to their platforms, but the government may take advantage of this to censor citizens. Provided that Google is a search engine, whether or not will this tech firm apply this suggestion is still in question, although it may change its Photo and Drive apps a little to be in line with the court’s order.

However, it’s impossible for WhatsApp.

According to WhatsApp, it runs end-to-end encryption, which means only the people who send the messages and their receivers can read the contents, even the company itself or its parent Facebook cannot see those contents.

If WhatsApp applies the AI method as suggested, it will have to change the encryption, hence violate users’ privacy. Even worse, that will pose a higher risk of hacks.

The firms are drafting their own proposals on a standard operating procedure (SoP), in which they will detail the possibilities of implementing the government’s suggestions as well as how they can do it. The proposals are scheduled to be submitted by December 10 to the Supreme Court so we may be the changes very soon.